


Everlasting Meeting

by vedinamel



Category: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Crossover, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-17
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-20 12:38:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vedinamel/pseuds/vedinamel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amid the sea of Chaos, two incomplete hearts may have found their whole.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everlasting Meeting

Valhalla was, without a doubt, huge. Its buildings looked big on the outside, but inside they seemed endless, with no top and no bottom. Lightning wasn't very surprised, since it would be expected that in a place where time doesn't flow as it should, space wouldn't work as it was meant to work either. Protecting it would be a hard task, for how do you guard a place that seems to go on forever, all by yourself?  
   
 She wandered the corridors of the central building (or at least she thought it was the central building, hard to say for sure), trying to make sense of a place that doesn't have any. In the void corridors her new armor made an awful metallic noise whenever she walked, which echoed in the endless building. Guess preemptive strikes were off the table. It had been a long time since she arrived (or, at least, she considered it to be a long time), but no matter for how long she walked, she didn't feel tired, hungry or thirsty. Perhaps her body has ceased to work the way it should as well.

 Her tireless walking came to a sudden stop. There was something different in this part of the building. A smell. A smell she didn't expect to find in that place. Flowers. The unmistakable smell of roses, but there was something else too. Rosemaries, tulips, maybe lilies too? That was unexpected. In the realm of the Goddess of Death, to find life blossoming anywhere is certainly something odd, to say the least. Lightning followed her nose, wandering even deeper into the senseless building.

 After the smell came a sound. A humming. A pleasant voice humming a unfamiliar tune (something along "tum-tum-tum-tum tum-turum tum-tum-tum"). It couldn't be one of the Eidolons, they were all awfully quiet. The sound and the smell lead Lightning to a big wooden door. A ray of light passed between the cracks and the sound of running water joined the melodic voice. Lightning opened the doors to find herself inside a church. The place looked old, made mostly out of wood. Two lines of columns sustained a damaged roof from where sunlight shined down on a small garden. A young woman was tending to the flowers, wearing a pink dress and brown boots, her long brown hair neatly arranged in a braid.  She looked at Lightning and smiled.

 “Hello. I didn't expect to see anyone today. You must be our new protector.”

 “Yes, I...”. The woman's presence took Lightning by surprise. She hadn't seen anyone since she arrived. At least anyone that wasn't either an Eidolon or one of the feral creatures that wandered the place. “I'm Lightning. The Goddess brought me here to stand guard over her legacy”, she said, maintaining a military posture. You may leave the Guardian Corps, but the Guardian Corps never leave you.

 The young woman smiled wider. She giggled as she saluted Lightning (with the wrong hand, which she promptly corrected. After meeting so many soldiers, she should know better). “It's good to meet you. I feel safer already!” She approached Lightning as her eyes scanned her from top to bottom. “I'm Aerith. Aerith Gainsborough. The Goddess has spoken of you. How you and your friends fought your fate to save a doomed world.”

 Lightning remembered her time as a L'cie. The aimless wandering, the struggles, the manipulations, the battles. The Goddess witnessed her and her friends' hopeless  fight against their imposed destiny and intervened when their strength actually bared fruit. And now it seems that She was passing the story along.

 “You know about me, but I don't know anything about you. Where did you come from, Miss Gainsborough? I hazard a guess you are not from these parts.”  
   
 “I'm from... let's say... somewhere else”, she laughed. She sure seems to be a cheerful one, Lightning thought. It reminded her of Vanille. The remembrance of her friend sparked a bit of sadness within Lightning, made her home sick. "You probably never heard of it. It's called Midgar. It's a big city built around a power plant."

 "I'm sorry, I never heard of such a place."  
   
 "It's okay. Like I said, it is someplace else." Aerith pointed at the small garden she was tending to. "So, are you here for some flowers? Where I came from I used to sell them. I could arrange a beautiful bouquet for you."

 "Actually..." Lightning averted her gaze from embarrassment, staring now at the damaged roof of the structure. "I'm lost. I have no idea where I was going or where I was supposed to go. If I'm supposed to go somewhere."

 "Oh, I see. I could show you around if you like." Without waiting for a response from Lightning, Aerith took her by the hand and dragged her. She was surprisingly strong for someone so fragile looking. Lightning almost lost her balance as her new acquaintance pulled her by the hand. "Come on. How is our brave protector going to defend us if she doesn't even know where she's going?"

  No matter how Aerith put it, Valhalla didn't make a lick of sense. For what, to Lightning, seemed like hours, Aerith dragged Lightning around, doing her best to explain where they were, where they were going to next and how they would get there. Etro's new warrior did her best to absorb as much information as her mind could hold, but no matter how she mapped the place in her head, the whole thing still made Orphan's Cradle look like a tiny sand box.

 As they went deeper into the building, Aerith slowly went from holding Lightning's hand to interlocking arms with her. Between explanations of one place led to the other, Aerith told Lightning about her life in Midgar. She told about her friends, their travels and trials. Lightning shared a bit of her history too. There were some things that Etro didn't mention. Somehow they made it outside, a big door opened to the beach where Lightning had awaken after being brought there by the Goddess. They sat at the roll of stairs, staring at the ocean as they shared more of their lives.

 "And then he said", Lightning deepened her voice a little, doing her best impression of Snow, "'Hey look at me, talking strategy!' That airhead wouldn't know strategy even if it bit him."

 Aerith laughed, still interlocking arms with Lightning. "Sounds like they were a fun bunch, your friends."

 "Yes, they were."  
   
 "That Vanille sounds like she was the life of the party. I can see why you were so fond of her."

 "So fond?" Lightning blushed. "Where did you get that idea?"

 "Sorry. You just... talked differently when you were talking about her. As if recalling something very dear."

 "They were all dear to me", Lightning said, but that wasn't the whole truth. In time she came to care for all of her companions, but Vanille was special. However, that something special already belonged to someone else. "There wasn't anyone I didn't cherish."

 "'There wasn't anyone I didn't cherish.' Heh, you sound like someone I used to know."  She freed Lightning's arm and placed a hand on the rose haired woman's cheek. Her hand felt soft  and warm, a welcome sensation in the middle of the cold weather of Valhalla. "You look a bit like him too. But prettier, if it isn't too bold of me to say."

 Lightning blushed even redder and looked away. She wasn't used to compliments like these. Serah was 'pretty', she was the 'ice lady'. "I... thanks... you are... pretty yourself, too." Giving compliments like these weren't her thing either. She wished she could 'be so bold' back then when she was with Vanille. Before they went separate ways, before Fang went after her, before they sacrificed themselves to save Cocoon, now forever at each other's side.

 "Pretty warriors deserve pretty flowers. I've been thinking of a bouquet to make for you. You seem like the rose type." Lightning looked at her quizzically. "Pretty, gentle, but with sharp thorns to keep away those who would cause it harm. Yes, you're definitely the rose type." She took Lightning's hands into hers and looked into her eyes. "Promise me you'll come by to pick it up."

 "Sure. I'd love to, Aerith." A smile started to form on Lightning's lips when there was a loud thundering sound. They looked at the horizon where dark clouds gathered, bringing a swarm of insectoid creatures. The silhouette of a man could be seen coming from the ocean. "Well, I guess it's time for me to work."

 "Wait", Aerith asked, but Lightning had already stood up and began to walk towards the water. The flower girl grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around. She learned forward and planted a kiss on Lightning's lips. It was quick, unexpected. Lightning didn't know how to react as her face became as red as the roses Aerith had promised her. "For good luck", she said, with a smile.

 "Thanks", Lightning smiled back. She hesitated for a moment, then began to run towards the incoming battle. Her rose crystal took form in her hand and Odin emerged into the physical plane, in the form of a horse, to fight alongside his master. Lightning mounted her Eidolon and materialized her weapon, ready for battle.

 "There's another one waiting for you when you come back!" Aerith shouted from the stairs and smiled when Lightning shouted back, saying she would hold her to that. Aerith's heart was defenseless against the charms of a soldier, it seemed.

 In Valhalla things don't work as they should. Time, space, life, death. All those are nothing more than blurry concepts amid the sea of chaos. In the place where everything and nothing is eternal, the taste of Aerith's lips stayed with Lightning for an eternity.


End file.
